


Where the Sidewalk Ends

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canada, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Angst, Drinking, Family, Family Drama, High School Flashbacks, M/M, Minor Hunk/Shay (Voltron), Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-23
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-23 02:13:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10710045
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Lance comes back to the small town where he grew up for the first time in a few years. What's meant to be a short visit turns into a bit of an adventure when he runs into his old rival, Keith.





	1. Chapter 1

The river was 4 feet higher than usual the year that Morgan Hines had decided to shoot his father-in-law. Nobody knew why he did it but it was generally agreed that Morgan was Not Well and they wouldn't talk about it.  The province had designated Aynor as the “Friendly Town” and madmen with guns didn’t exactly fit that image .

The local police had caught Morgan and sent him to the detention centre a few miles south, his poor wife Giselle put the Hines estate on the market (about 50 acres and for a reasonable price) and that was that . If people talked about it at all they'd refer to it as "the incident" then people would nod and change the subject. That’s how people did things in Aynor, they dealt with problems  quickly then forgot about them.

There were other, more positive things that went about in Aynor. Take, for example, a well-known family, the McClain-Maradonas

The McClains have been in Aynor since the town  was founded . They are well-known for getting drunk and setting things on fire. They also made up about 25% of the town on account of being there for so long. The Maradonas came to Aynor from Cuba in the early 1970s. They would have gone to a major city but Aynor had a mill and a shortage of workers.  Diego and Ramona worked there while their daughter, Nohemi, finished high school.

In 1975 David McClain and Nohemi met, fell in love, and had 4 children. The second youngest of their children is Lance. He's a smart kid, he got into the University of British Columbia on scholarship. This means that he had to move across the country and never visit. Yet, after weeks of nagging, his parents convinced Lance to come for a visit. Now he's dragging his suitcase through an airport in Ottawa, looking for his sister. 

Lance reaches a hallway which seems like it leads outside, but hallways in airports can be misleading .  He quickens his pace, hoping that if he reaches it fast enough it won’t rearrange itself like hallways in airports do and bursts outside . The sun is shining bright, which is a bit unusual for this time of year. Lance's eyes adjust to the light as he hears a voice behind him, calling out his name.

“Well, if it isn’t Lance Charles McClain.” The voice belongs to a tall young woman with a shock of dark hair and tattoos trailing up her arms. This is his sister, Finley. Lance turns around and runs to her, smothering her in a hug before saying anything. She smells like almonds and cigarettes and Lance feels at home already.

“Someone’s happy to see me,” Finley remarks once Lance pulls away. He nods, letting his sister take his bags and put them in the trunk for him. He then opens the door, steps in, and collapses onto the passenger seat, stretching out his legs as far as they can go.

“I’ve been stuck on a plane for four hours,” Lance groans “Please, please, please get me out of this place.”

Finley laughs and starts the car, handing Lance a box of CDs before driving away. Lance pulls out an old Abba disk, knowing it will annoy his sister, and puts it in the player before she can stop him. By the time they’re out of the airport Lance has the car’s sound system blasting Dancing Queen at full blast. Finley screams in protest but Lance ignores her and starts singing along at the top of his lungs.

After the first few songs play Finley stops protesting and Lance’s voice gives out so listening to Abba isn’t actually all that fun anymore . Lance turns the volume down and thinks of something to say that will fill the awkward silence.

“So, how is everyone?”  Lance asks, wincing because small talk has never been necessary with his family before .

“Everyone’s good,” Finley says “Mama’s happy you’re coming back, Millard’s brought his wife home and she’s an absolute angel, Dad’s taken up curling and Ciro’s children have been home for 2 hours and have already messed with my hair 3 times .”

There are a few more minutes of awkward silence then Finley speaks again. “How’s school?” She asks.

“School’s good, school’s good. I made a few friends, and I have a pretty ok job for once.”

Finley nods “That’s good. By the way, Hunk called this morning. He complained that he hadn’t seen you in forever and was wondering when you’d get back. He also talked with Mama on the phone for like an hour and he may or may not becoming over for easter dinner.”

Lance chuckles a bit and the car turns a corner, bringing them within the town limits.  The wind catches a lock of Finley's hair as the CD ends. Neither of them makes a move to change it and the two sit in silence for a while as the car cruises down the street. They pass by a few major landmarks before Lance spots something and asks Finley to stop the car. His sister nods and pulls into a parking lot by the liquor store.

"What the fuck is that?" Lance says after jumping out of the car and pointing across the street.

Finley follows his gaze and laughs, "That's a library, Lance."

"We never had a library! What happened to the train station?"

"I guess people needed books more than they needed to go places," Finley says with a shrug. Lance frowns a bit muttering "I don't like it," under his breath. 

"You don't like change much do you?" Finley asks.

Lance shakes his head. "It makes me feel icky."

His sister rolls her eyes and motions to the car. "Come on loser, stop complaining. People are expecting us home."

Lance sighs and sits back down and the car pulls out of the parking lot.  After a few minutes, they pass the church at the corner of their street and Lance spots two children running up to the car followed by a frazzled looking woman .  Lance recognises the woman as his sister-in-law, Celeste, which means that the children must be Eric and Dalia, her kids . The last time Lance saw them was two years ago when Eric was four and Dalia was two. 

Finley slows down to match up with the kids’ speed and Lance opens the window. Celeste catches up to her children and the three start walking next to the car.

“Hey, guys!” Lance says, leaning out the window. 

“Uncle Lance!” Eric shouts. He tries to jump up and touch his uncle but he’s not tall enough yet so Celeste picks him up. Once’s he’s  properly elevated Eric ruffles Lance’s hair.

“Hey buddy, it’s good to see you.” 

“You too!” Eric exclaims.

Celeste sighs “You’re all he’s been talking about for the last month, Lance.”

Lance wants to say something but then Eric’s mouth starts moving a mile a minute, talking non-stop about the gifts that Lance sent in the mail on Christmas and the times he spent video chatting with the family . Finley rolls her eyes a bit, but she smiles while doing it and leans over to Lance’s side of the car.

“Eric, my dude, I know you’re excited to see your uncle but conversations  really shouldn’t  be held while walking next to a car . We’ll be at the house in 30 seconds, do you think you can wait?”

Eric nods and lets his mum put him down.  Celeste sighs in relief and redirects her children to the sidewalk while Finley speeds up the car . As promised, they reach the house in half a minute.

Once Finley parks their family members have reached the house. Celeste opens the door and calls inside, notifying the rest of the family that Lance is there. Soon enough a group of people flood out of the house, everyone talking at once and giving each other hugs.

After every single member of his  familly gives Lance a hug his mum tells him to put his bags in his room then take a nap. He collects his things and goes inside, followed by a line of his family members. Once he reaches his room they all stand at his door, still all talking at once, until his mum pushes through the group.

“Leave him alone everyone,” She says, almost yelling “Lance has had a five-hour flight across four time zones . Give him some space.”

Everyone grumbles and sighs, but they follow her command and leave Lance alone. Once everyone’s cleared out of his room Lance throws his bags on the floor and himself of the bed, letting out a long yawn. After  barely a minute lying down, he’s fast asleep.

***

Lance wakes up almost an hour later. He stands up too  quickly and the blood rushes from his head, leaving him a little dizzy.  He steadies himself using the door frame and braces himself for the ruckus that will  probably ensue once he gets downstairs .

Surprisingly enough the only person downstairs is Lance’s dad. He’s sitting on the couch, reading a newspaper and looks up when he hears Lance come in.

“Hey Pop, where is everyone?” Lance asks.

“Millard and Irja went to get groceries, Ciro and Celeste took the kids to the park, your mum is helping her dad call his wife, and my dad is sleeping .” His dad says, turning back to his paper.

Lance yawns and asks how long he’s been out for. His dad doesn’t respond so he waits a little longer then asks where his Grandma Liv is. Lance’s dad motions towards the door.

After walking outside Lance looks around a bit, searching for his grandma.  His family has a magnificent garden, but since it’s only April nothing is growing except for a few delicate flowers .  The grass in long and green though,  probably from the weeks of rain they've had over the past few weeks and Lance crouches down to run his fingers through it . It’s damp and cool, a nice contrast from the warm sun.

After a few seconds, Lance stands up again and walks down the hill to where his grandma is standing next to a chicken coop . His grandma’s hair is blowing in the wind, long and white and billowy.  Finley takes after Grandma Liv quite a bit, they have the same facial structure and hair, although Finley’s eyes are dark while the older woman has blue ones,  just like Lance . She’s wearing a blue dress and looking at the bottom of the garden where the river is. Soon enough Lance is standing next to her and if she notices she doesn’t make any move to acknowledge him.

“There’s a storm coming,” Liv says after a while and Lance can’t help but  be reminded of a witch or fortune-teller in an old book.

Lance looks up at the sky, seeing the sun, and asks if she’s sure.

Grandma Liv nods “Don’t let the sun fool you. Look at the river.”

Lance does as he’s told and notices the river has overflown its banks, almost submerging the old swing set his parents keep at the back of the garden . “Woah,” Lance says “That’s amazing.”

“Last time it was that high Earl Hines got shot in the head,” his grandmother says, her voice keeping the same tone.

Lance laughs “ Maybe it’s a sign.”

“ Maybe ,” Liv remarks, then turns around “Help me collect eggs?”

“Yeah, sure thing,” says Lance and the two walk towards the chicken coop. Grandma Liv hands him one of the baskets she’s been keeping on the ground and opens up the eggs windows.  There are 5 chickens inside and the two go around collecting eggs from the nests where none of the hens are sitting .

When he was 5 Lance made the mistake of scaring one of the chickens while collecting eggs and got a scar on his hand from the chicken pecking at it . Ever since then he has always been extra careful around them since he doesn’t want to get injured again. Grandma Liv,  however , doesn’t do anything to avoid scaring them.  Somehow she never gets hurt and Lance and his siblings have theorised that she has some sort of psychic connection to them . It was  probably wrong, but if anyone were to have a psychic connection to a bunch of chickens it would be Grandma Liv. 

Lance and his grandma collect the eggs the two go inside and start washing the eggs. Sooner or later people start to trickle in and help out.  Lance’s brother Millard and his wife Irja come back with the groceries and the focus shifts from the eggs to preparing food .  His mom tells Lance to peel potatoes with Eric and Dalia due to his utter lack of culinary talent so they go off and work in the dining room to get out of everyone else's way .

Eric spends most of the time talking and very little actually peeling potatoes and Lance isn’t quite sure whether he should trust Dalia with the peeler so most of the work goes to him . It gets so bad that the two kids actually leave the room, leaving Lance alone.  He decides to take this opportunity to call his friend, Hunk since Finley mentioned that he wanted to meet up sometime .

Hunk picks up pretty  quickly and Lance puts him on speakerphone so he can continue his work while they talk.

“Hunk!” Lance exclaims once he's sorted everything out.

“Lance!” Hunk replies, with equal enthusiasm.

“How are you, buddy?” Lance asks.

“I’m great.  Just great. How are you? How’s school? What are you doing?”

“I’m good thanks,” Lance replies with a bit of a laugh “School’s good and I’m peeling potatoes.”

“Ah, of course. Tell your mum to have me over some time and I'll be a replacement son. I can actually cook.”

“Excuse you, I can cook fine. I’m here to take care of the kids. I’m great with kids.”

Hunk laughs “And where are the kids now?”

“Hell if I know. Finley says you want to hang out some time?”

“Yeah, well duh. I haven’t seen you in person for years dude.”

“I  really do need to come back more often, huh,” Lance says with a bit of a sigh. There’s a moment of silence before Hunk speaks again.

“You do.  Anyways, I’m working most of the weekend but I get off at 9 so if you want to meet me at the diner some time like, right before then we can hang out . Party. Have a night out on the town.”

That makes Lance laugh because you could count the number of fun things Aynor has to offer on one hand but he agrees to Hunk’s plan . “Does tonight work?”

“Yeah, of course. I’m not doing anything. Ever. But I did meet a cute girl.”

Lance lets out an unholy screech and says, “Hunk! Dude! Bro! Tell me more!”

“Her name’s Shay. She’s lovely. I’ll tell you more tonight.” Hunk says, chuckling.

By now Lance has finished peeling the potatoes so he says goodbye to Hunk and brings them into the kitchen. He hands them to Ciro who’s working the stove and notices Celeste glaring at him.

“Where are our kids?” She demands.

“Er,  I think they ran off to play or something,” Lance tells her. Celeste looks a bit mad but then sighs and goes back to chopping vegetables. Lance looks over at Finley who shrugs and frowns a bit. She’s never  really liked Celeste.

Now that there aren’t any tasks Lance can complete without ruining the meal he’s told to set the table then find the kids and get them washed up . He pulls out plates, forks, and knives then lays them out on the table before running upstairs.  His niece and nephew are in his parent’s bedroom, jumping on the bed and Lance joins them for a few minutes until he hears the timer go off downstairs .  Lance leads the kids to the bathroom where he helps them wash their hands then goes back downstairs to eat dinner .

The meal is simple, chicken, salad, and mashed potatoes, but it tastes good and gives the family time to catch up.  They start having one conversation, but after a few minutes they split off into several, none of them including Lance .  He eats in semi-silence, poking into other people’s conversations every so often and trying to listen to them all at once .  It’s always been more or less like this, they have an odd number of people and there’s so many of them that’s it’s hard to find common ground with everyone . Lance is a bit sad that nobody is talking to him after being away for so long but isn’t too bothered since that’s how things go.

Once everyone finishes eating Lance helps clean the dishes with his mum while the others split off . He finishes soon enough then grabs his wallet and jacket, ready to go hang out with Hunk.

***

_ “If you could do anything with your life, like, anything at all, what would it be?” Hunk asks. They are lying on the rocks by the river where they  really shouldn’t be and looking up at the stars.  _

__

_ “I don’t know man,  I think space is cool. So’s the ocean. I guess I want to explore one of them?” Lance replies. His friend nods  knowingly , they are 15 and feel like the world is their oyster. Neither Hunk nor Lance can see any barrier to Lance becoming an astronaut.  _

__

_ Lance sits up and dips his hand in the water. “I hate it here,” he says after a while. Hunk nods again. _

__

_ “There’s nothing to do, nothing to see. There’s like, the museum, the mill, then miles of farm land. Nothing dude,” he continues.  _

__

_ “Ottawa’s pretty close by. Ottawa’s cool,” Hunk supplies, but Lance shakes his head.  The two have been to Ottawa several school trips and while it’s exciting, Lance would prefer to see it without the company of his entire school .  Hunk is cool, as is his classmate Pidge who he’s trying to befriend, but other than that the rest his peers are either uninteresting or uninterested .  _

__

_ “I want to go away, you know? Get as far away from this place as possible.” _

__

_ Hunk nods in understanding, “When I’m older I’m going to become an engineer and work for all the major companies. They’ll all be vying for my attention. It’ll be awesome.” _

__

_ “I bet they will, buddy,” Lance says, smiling.  _

__

_ The two teens continue their conversation, talking about the future as the night sky reflects on the water . _

***

The bell on the diner’s doorframe goes off as Lance walks inside. He hasn’t been to this place is ages and Lance  is pleased to see that they’ve maintained the same tacky decor. There’s still floral print on the wallpaper, old posters from the 1950s, and velvety seats.  It looks terrible, but it’s nice to see that somethings about Lance’s childhood home are the same (he thinks  grudgingly about the train station turned library he saw this morning .)

Lance walks up to the counter and asks the waitress if Hunk is around, not forgetting to use a wink and a pickup line to get his point across .  The waitress rolls her eyes and tells Lance that Hunk is working the kitchen until his shift ends so Lance will have to wait .  Lance nods and orders a milkshake, checking the time and noticing that he has about 10 minutes until Hunk finishes up .

His eyes scan around the dinner, which is empty except for one of the seats in the back where someone is sitting.  Lance doesn’t  really take them in  properly until he looks around for the second time then does a double take because he knows that guy .

The person brooding at the back of the diner is Lance’s high school rival/brief infatuation, Keith Kogane.  Lance finds it a bit disappointing that after 7 years the man still hasn’t lost his mullet, but otherwise, he's amazed by how good Keith looks .  He gives himself a pat on the back for  being obsessed with someone actually decent-looking for once then turns back to his milkshake, thinking about what to do .

At some point, Keith was going to come up to pay, which meant that them meeting would be inevitable. Knowing this, Lance could either pretend like he had no idea who Keith was or say hi to him.  If he were to say hi Keith might wonder whether Lance had noticed him before, then wonder why Lance didn’t walk up to the table in the first place .  If he were to walk up to the table,  however , Keith might be uncomfortable, plus there was no quick escape from that situation . Lance weighs his options, decides it’s best to stay where he is, then does the exact opposite of that.

It takes him 20 seconds to get to the back of the diner, but 30 to figure out what to say so for 10 seconds Lance stands in front of Keith opening and closing his mouth like a fish . Finally, he pulls himself together and says, “Hi.”

“Um, hi?” Keith says back,  obviously confused.

“You’re, er, Keith, right?” Says Lance.

“That’s me,” Keith confirms “And you are…?”

At this point Lance’s brain short circuits for a moment because he never took into account the possibility that Keith might actually have no idea who he was . “You don’t remember me?” Lance asks after a moment “I’m Lance!”

“Lance?”

“Yeah! You know, we always competed in high school!? 

“No… I don’t remember that.”

“ Seriously ? We had all the same classes and you were first in all them and I was always second?”

Keith thinks for a moment before his expression changes “Oh! You’re the guy that ‘ accidentally ’ spilt water all over my English essay!”

Lance scrunches up his nose a bit because he remembers being a dick back then, but doesn’t know exactly how much of a dick he had been .  While spilling water on Keith’s work isn’t something Lance remembers he wouldn’t put it past his high school self to have done something like that .

“I don’t know man, sounds like something I would do,” Lance tells Keith after a while.  Surprisingly enough, this gains a positive reaction and Keith starts to laugh.

“You were such an asshole!” Keith says through giggles “But then, I guess I was too. Everyone was back then, huh?”

Lance smiles but not at what Keith is saying but the fact that Keith is fucking cute when he laughs. For the second time that night he complements his past self's taste in men. 

“Do you mind if I take a seat?” Lance asks once Keith’s laughs have died down and the other man agrees. Lance slips into the booth across from him and smiles, a bit more nervous than before.

“So, what brings you here this time of night?” Keith asks.

“I’m meeting up with my buddy, Hunk.” Lance answers “What about you?”

“Getting a late night snack, I guess. Never learned how to cook.”

Lance chuckles “ I feel you, I’m 25 and still living off instant noodles.”

“Hunk’s a chef here, right?” Keith asks “He makes amazing pies.”

“I bet he does. When we were younger he’d always bring me baked goods when I was down. He’s a pretty great guy like that.”

At that moment Hunk comes out of the kitchen and spots Lance and Keith in the booth at the back.  Lance excuses himself, sprints towards his friend, and is immidealty wrapped up in one of Hunk’s famous bear hugs .  It feels nice, there’s nobody for Lance to hug in Vancouver, and reminds Lance once again of how long it’s been since he’s been home .

Once they pull apart Hunk ruffles Lance’s hair, then his face falls a bit. “I’m super sorry buddy, I completely forgot that I promised Shay I’d fill in for her tonight. I’d get someone else to do it, but it’s  just me and Samantha here and they need at least two people to keep the thing going so…”

Lance’s face falls to match Hunks, but he perks up pretty  quickly . “Doing a little favour for your girl, I get it. Don’t worry about it at all. But I do need you to promise that we’ll hang out some other time this weekend, OK?”

Hunk nods “You’re leaving Monday, right?”

“That’s right,” Lance confirms.

“Alright,” Hunk says, frowning a bit “While 3 days is nothing I won’t bug you about it since you’re letting me off so easy tonight. Call me tomorrow?”

“Sure thing,” Lance says. He gives Hunk another hug then pays for his milkshake and heads out the door.

Lance is halfway down the street when he hears footsteps behind him.  Turning around, he notices that it’s Keith, who’s a little out of breath from running and looks stunning under the light of the street lamp . 

“Lance,” Keith says once he’s caught up “I saw Hunk cancel on you and  I was wondering if you want to walk around with me?”

There’s a moment of silence while Lance considers whether he wants to walk around in the dark with someone he  barely knows, but then he figures that they went to school together so they aren’t exactly strangers . And there’s the added fact that Keith Kogane has become quite the looker and doesn’t seem to be an asshole anymore.

“You don’t have to if you don’t-“ Keith starts after Lance takes a little too long to reply.

“-No, no, that sounds great, I’d love to,” Lance interrupts. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance and Keith take a walk in the night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! I will pop in here with content warnings every so often. Please note that this chapter has alcohol use and some talk about family problems so if either of those things makes you uncomfortable please watch out for them.

"Would you like a breath mint?” Keith asks.  He and Lance are standing on the corner of a street, right where downtown turned into a more residential area . It took them about 5 minutes to get there after Keith had offered to walk Lance around. He can already notice some ways that the town has changed.

“A breath mint?” Lance asks “What are you going to do, kiss me?”

Keith rolls his eyes “No, of course not. I had a weird taste in my mouth so I was going to take one then figured it’d be rude if I didn’t offer.”

“Right, sure, I’ll have one.”

Keith opens up his bag to pull out a tin of mints.  As it’s open Lance glances inside it and notices that Keith seems to carry around all his personal belongings .

“So, what else do you have in there?” Asks Lance after Keith hands him a mint.

“Let’s see,” Keith says, glancing into his bag “An umbrella, playing cards, toothbrush, my wallet, bandaids, several rocks, business cards, a scarf, keys, a map of Ontario, a map of Canada, lavender essential oil, white out, a map of the world, a bunch of pens, a plastic dinosaur, soap, a water bottle, my epi pen, play dough, polysporin, hair clips, and a candle . Among other things.” 

Lance laughs a bit “Why the fuck do you carry around so many things dude?”

“ Just in case I get abducted by aliens,” Keith says . Lance isn’t sure if that’s a joke or not so he smiles and nods.

In an attempt to change the subject Lance asks what Keith’s allergic to, remembering the epi-pen in his bag.

“Bee stings and soy,” Keith tells him “Which sucks because cows milk gives me cramps.”

“Why don’t you drink almond milk then?” Lance inquires.

Keith shakes his head, “It tastes weird.”

Lance smiles a bit and wonders what 15 year old him would think if he knew he was talking to his rival about milk.  15-year-old Lance never saw Keith as completely human, he was always someone who was better than Lance . Later on he became a mysterious bad boy who’s pants Lance wanted to get into, but again, not completely human. This was much nicer, Lance concluded. 

“So, where are we going to go tonight?” Lance asks after standing around for a while.

“I thought we could along the outskirts of downtown, we can hit the park, the school and the old train tracks. We can also go on the river walk if you want, the water’s high as fuck this year.”

Lance nods “Sounds good. My house is right by the park so we can go there last.”

“Ok.  We’re closest to the school so we can go there, then loop around to the river, from there go to the tracks,  maybe get some beer to drink in the park ? Only if you want to. There’s not much to do here.”

Lance smiles and offers Keith his arm. “Lead the way kind sir,” He says as Keith  tentatively loops his arm through Lance’s. Keith is stiff for a few seconds then relaxes and starts in the direction of their old school.

***

Payne Memorial High School is Aynor’s only secondary school apart from the Catholic one. It looks like a big grey box from the outside and the interior isn’t much different. They named it after Bernard Payne, the town’s first mayor. The name was  poorly chosen since the students call it “Pain-in-the-ass High.” He's spent 4 years here and most of it Lance has tried to forget about.

Keith leads him to the front of the school where the emergency lights are still on and the two peer inside. It hasn’t changed at all.

“Do you come here a lot?” Lance asks after a while.

“Nah, but I pop by every few months. I like to check up on the place.”

Lance turns away from the door and leans on the building so that he’s now looking out onto the schoolyard. It’s nothing much,  just a field and a tennis court.  Both of these  were surrounded by large fences to keep people like Keith and him from going onto school property and messing it up . Lance went onto the field a total of 10 times through his entire high school career. The only reason he’d have to go onto the field was gym class which Lance dropped junior year. 

It’s quiet except for the buzzing of the old lights they have around the school and the sound of Keith and Lance’s breathing . With nothing else to do Lance tries to sync their breaths. 

“Where do you live now?” Keith says, breaking the silence.

“Vancouver.”

“Oh, good for you. I always wanted to live out west.”

“ Really ?”

“Yeah, I wanted to get into UBC but then I dropped out so that didn’t happen.”

Lance feels a little bit bad about this since he’s studying at the same university Keith wanted to go to.  Lance had always been second best in his class, right after Keith, and he only got his scholarship because Keith dropped out . 

“I’m actually going to UBC,” Lance tells him. He knows it’s not the best thing to say in this situation but he wants to see how Keith will react.

“Ah, cool. What are you studying?” 

Lance kinda expected that Keith wouldn’t make a big deal about it. He has to admit that his old rivalry was one sided. 

“I’m doing my masters in marine biology,” He says.

“Good for you. How are you liking it?”

“It’s pretty great. I’m learning a lot and I’ve made a few friends.”

Keith smiles and nods then Lance asks what he’s doing with himself.

“I’m a mechanic,” Keith tells Lance “Nothing fancy but it pays the bills.”

“That’s cool. Do you also like, run a drug business on the side? Selling people meth as you change their tires?”

Keith blinks a bit and Lance notes that while Keith  is unfazed by talking about aliens he’s completely confused by talking about drugs . When Keith doesn’t respond Lance chuckles and tells him that he’s joking.  Keith let’s out a confused laugh as if he’s not quite sure if that’s the best response to the situation then suggests they go to their next destination . Lance agrees, offering his arm once again, and the two head off to the river. 

***

_ “His name is Keith, he has stupid hair and he thinks he’s better than me,” Lance complains. He’s 16 and is talking to his friend Pidge over Skype. Pidge moved to Toronto at the beginning of the year, leaving the position of best in the class open. Now Lance and Keith are competing to take her place, or at least Lance is trying to beat Keith. Both Pidge and Hunk think Lance is acting stupid. _

__

_ “Does he even know you exist?” Pidge asks. _

__

_ “Of course he does!” Lance exclaims.  _

__

_ Pidge raises an eyebrow “ Really ? Because from what I know about him he seems kinda aloof. I don’t think he cares about being better than you.” _

__

_ “Trust me, he only acts that way.” _

__

_ “Have you ever actually talked to him?” _

__

_ Lance thinks for a second before saying, “He bumped into me once and I said ‘Watch where you’re going’ then he said “ _ You _ should watch where you’re going” then we bickered a bit .” _

__

_ Pidge laughs a bit and rests her head in her hand “Sounds like you two will become great friends.” _

__

_ “That’s what you got out of my story?” Lance asks, gagging a bit. _

__

_ “Kinda… I mean we only became friends because you thought I was a dude for half a year and wanted to keep me from ‘stealing your girls,’” Pidge makes quotation marks with her hands as she says the last part . _

__

_ “This is different though!” Lance exclaims “You were better than me, but you weren’t a dude so I didn’t have to compete against you for girl’s attention! Not only is Keith better than me but he’s actually a guy! And he’s good looking!” _

__

_ Pidge rolls her eyes and leans into the camera so her whole face fills up the screen. “I  probably got more lady-action than you, Lance, and we get along  famously . I don’t see why it should be different with Keith.” _

__

_ “We had Hunk as a buffer I guess,” Lance says after thinking a moment. _

__

_ “Good point. He won’t help you with this?” _

__

_ “He’s a bit scared of Keith, to be honest. And Hunk has excellent character judgement.” _

__

_ Pidge leans back, “That’s true. I still don’t think you should hate Keith though. I did go to school with him for like a year and he seemed decent. A bit awkward, but then who isn’t? Also, I was getting a gay vibe from him so I don’t think you have to worry about him being competition.” _

__

_ “Can I trust your gaydar though? You got the same vibe from me.” _

__

_ “Incorrect!” Pidge exclaims “I got the feeling you were bi.” _

__

_ Lance rests his head on the back of his chair and thinks for a moment. “Ok,” He says “ Maybe you’re right. I don’t know. Some dudes are good looking? Hunk is kinda hot. Same goes for Keith I guess. But I wouldn’t like, want to date either of them? And girls are like… you’ve seen girls right?” _

__

_ Pidge nods in agreement.  _

__

_ “I wouldn’t worry about him, Lance.” Pidge says after a while “You should focus on being better than you are now rather than beating Keith. He doesn’t seem to have acknowledged your rivalry and he’s doing better than you.” _

__

_ Lance sighs “I’ll try to forget about it.” _

__

_ “Good,” Pidge says, giving a decided nod “Now tell me Lance, have my people skills improved? Did I give good advice? I’m trying to be better with these things.” _

__

_ “Yes, Pidge, you’re doing great,” Lance assures, laughing a bit. There’s a call from outside Pidge’s room and she tells Lance she needs to go eat dinner. They make plans to Skype again then Pidge hangs up and Lance  is left alone in his room to do homework. _

__

***

Keith and Lance are standing next to a plaque by the river front reading a sign about the history of the town. Lance realises that he’s never taken the time to read any of the historical plaques around town. He’s not too mad at himself for that, most of the information  was covered in history class. 

Once the two finish reading they walk along the path the town paved along the river. The water is so high it almost touches the pavement and Lance is more than a bit worried that he’ll get his clothes wet. Keith doesn't seem to care and is walking  precariously close to the river.

After a while, the river turns and the pavement turns into a wooden bridge. The two stop walking to lean against the railing. The water is frothy and smells of dead fish.  It’s also moving very  quickly , waves are crashing against each other and it looks as if you’d  be slammed into a rock if you were to set foot in it .  A little ways down Lance can see the waterfall that used to  be used for the mill but has now  been turned into a hydro-plant . 

“I can’t believe I used to swim in this,” Lance says with a shudder.

“Me too. Of course, it wasn’t usually like this, I remember the river being all calm. The power plant fucked it up.”

“I guess, but there were some years it was like this, right?  I think it was 2007 that the river was super wild.”

“You remember the exact year?” Keith says with a bit of a bemused smile. Lance thinks it’s adorable but he keeps that to himself.

“Yeah, because that was the year the incident happened right? My grandma was looking at the river today and talking about how it was the same.” 

Keith’s smile fades a bit, much to Lance’s disappointment, and he starts looking around for something in his bag. After a while, he pulls out a scarf and ties it around his neck.

“I’m a bit cold,” Keith explains and Lance nods. It’s always colder by the river.

“Will we keep walking?” Lance asks after they look at the river in silence for a few more minutes. Keith nods and starts to walk along the path once more. They walk until they reach a sidewalk then turn.

“You don’t talk very much, do you?” Lance asks after several minutes of walking. 

“I talk, I’m  just not sure how I’m supposed to act around you,” Keith admits. Lance is a bit startled by his bluntness.

“What do you mean?” Asks Lance.

“Like, you and I never got along well in high school, then I dropped out and I thought I’d never see you again, then we… you know.”

“We what?” Lance splutters.

Keith frowns (Lance finds this adorable too), “You know, at the graduation party?”

“I don’t know, what happened?” Lance asks, his heart beating a little quicker than before. Keith doesn’t answer,  just blushes. “Hold up, one minute. Why were you at a graduation party? You didn’t graduate.”

“I had some friends who invited me, it doesn’t matter,” Keith tells him. He’s bright red by now and his voice has gone quite. Lance  is worried that he offended him in some way.

“Ok, what did we do?” Lance asks. As much as he wants the situation to be over with he also wants to know what happened. 

“We, er… bonded.” Keith says, burying his face in his scarf to hide his face.

“Wait,  seriously ? Did we fuck? I have no memory of this.” By now Lance is blushing too and  really ,  really , wishes he hadn’t asked. 

“No!” Keith exclaims, bringing his head out from his scarf “Nothing like that! We  just kissed!”

Lance lets out a relieved sigh and runs his fingers through this hair. “Thank god for that.”

His comment seems to have a negative effect on Keith because his expression hardens and he starts walking faster . Lance has to jog to catch up.

“Keith, what’s wrong?’ Lance asks once he’s matched Keith’s pace. The other man doesn’t answer and Lance groans. “Are you angry because I don’t remember or because I’m glad we didn’t do the dirty?”

“Both,” Keith growls and Lance is so taken aback that he stops walking for a second. By the time he’s found his bearings he has to sprint to catch up with Keith.

“Did it  really mean that much to you? I mean, you didn’t like me back then,” Lance pants, a little out of breath from running. Keith doesn’t say anything,  just turns and glares at him. It  suddenly dawns on Lance that he’s  terribly ,  terribly , mistaken. 

“Oh,” Lance says, looking at his feet. Keith slows down a bit and the two walk in silence for what seems like an eternity.

“You didn’t remember who I was back at the diner though…” Lance murmurs, breaking the silence. 

“I didn’t.  But then I remembered the water thing and everything that happened those years kinda came back to me,” Keith says . Lance  is relieved to see that he sounds less angry than before.

“If you forgot at the beginning of tonight you can’t  really blame me for not remembering now,” Lance argues with a shrug .

“I remembered the kiss,” Says Keith. His tone holds almost the same anger as it did before. 

They walk  quietly again until Lance says, “If it helps I was  probably super drunk at that party. I didn’t understand the concept of ‘drinking in moderation’ until I turned 22.”

“It’s fine,” Keith says, and now his voice is quiet,  barely above a whisper “I thought we… I don’t know… had something? That’s why I asked you to walk with me. Like you see this guy you’ve been crushing on for years and you kinda think you might have a chance. Or something. I wasn’t thinking.”

“That was my thought process too,” Lance admits. Keith turns and gives Lance a small smile.

“Alright,” Keith says, and his smile has grown.

“I mean, I’m  probably a  totally different person than I used to be and there’s no guarantee that you’ll still like me after all this time but…” 

“Let’s be friends and see where it takes us,” Keith finishes. Lance nods and notices that they’re now outside the library. 

“I don’t like that they got rid of the train station,” Lance says  decidedly .

“Why not? Nobody used the station anyway and the town needed a library,” Keith argues.

Lance grimaces “I mean, you have a point but, I don’t know. I don’t like change.”

“Change is good, Lance,” Keith says, giving him a meaningful smile. Lance has no idea what it could  possibly mean.

Keith takes his hand and leads him to the side of the library where there’s a tall chain link fence separating them from the train tracks . Lance watches as his new friend takes off his jacket and throws it on the top of the fence. Keith then grabs onto one of the wires and hoists himself up. He scales the fence,  practically giving Lance a heart attack, then grabs his jacket at the top and jumps down. Lance gasps a bit and asks if he needs to do the same thing.  Thankfully Keith shakes his head and leads him to a gate a little ways down. Keith opens it from the inside and lets Lance in. 

“Why did you bring me here?” Lance asks once he’s on the other side of the fence.

“I told you I’d bring you to the train tracks. Also, there’s usually a bunch of beer cans back here and we can trade them in at the store for money.”

Lance nods and follows Keith along the tracks. They’re falling apart a bit from disuse and there are plants growing between the rails. Keith is right though, this seems like the place to litter. There’s trash strewn around every which way. Lance spots doll parts, candy wrappers, solo cups, broken pottery, and some magazines. 

After walking a few hundred meters both Keith and Lance’s arms are full of cans. They turn around and go back to the gate. Keith struggles to get it open since his arms are so full but he manages after a while. Once they’re outside Lance closes the gate and the two walk over to the beer store which is,  thankfully , close by.

The door makes a jingle noise when Keith and Lance walk inside the store. The lighting is bad and it smells like alcohol,  just as Lance remembers it. They drop the cans onto the counter and the person working counts them up. Lance can’t help but feel a bit sorry for them, it’s almost midnight by now and they still haven’t gotten the chance to go home. 

They use the money they earned to buy a beer each, which the employee puts in a bag. They thank the worker and head outside. Keith leads Lance along the main street, where all the tourists usually go. Nobody is out except for them and a few people walking home from their night shift.

After a while, they end up at the park and take a seat on a bench.  Keith hands Lance one of the drinks they got before opening one himself and the two sit and drink  silently for a while .

“This is actually disgusting, why do people drink it?” Keith says once he’s about halfway done his beer.

“I don’t know, it’s strange. It’s the same with cigarettes, my sister loves them but I don’t see why.”

Keith nods, “They taste bad and give you lung cancer, it makes no sense.”

“That’s what I’ve tried to tell her!” Lance exclaims. For some reason this makes Keith laugh.

“Are you close with your family?” Keith asks when his laughing stops.

“I guess. Like, I haven’t seen them in years so  I feel kinda… I’m not sure. Like today at dinner, nobody talked to me. I mean, that’s bound to happen sometimes but I came back from fucking BC, they should want to catch up, right?”

Keith nods “ Maybe you’ve been away so long that they don’t know how to talk to you anymore.”

“I hope not,” Lance says, sighing a bit.  Maybe Keith was right. “Are you close with yours?” Lance asks after a while.

“No,” Keith tells him “I never met my mum and my dad disappeared when I was 15.”

“Oh,” Lance says “I’m sorry.”

Keith shrugs “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. By then I could pretty much take care of myself anyways, and he’d send money sometimes.”

“Do you know where he went?”

“To do some sort of business.  We moved around a lot because of his work and I guess that in some twisted way he thought it would be better to let me grow up in one place without a dad than in many places with one .”

Lance furrows his eyebrows. “That doesn’t make sense,” He says,

Keith nods. “I know. It turned out ok though.” 

They finish their beers and put them in a garbage can on the other side of the street. Lance’s house is pretty close, but he doesn’t want to leave Keith’s company yet. It seems like Keith can sense this or something because he suggests that they see one more thing. Lance agrees after Keith reassures him that it’s close and the two start to walk down Lance’s street together. 

They pass Lance’s house, then Hunk’s old house which his family sold a few years ago. Soon enough they reach a fork in the road and Keith surprises him by turning left, which Lance knows is a dead end.

They walk until they reach the end of the road.  There’s a short metal fence separating them from the water and a large yellow sign warning them that the road doesn’t continue . Keith leans against the fence and looks at the river.

“You know the poem by that guy? The one who wrote the giving tree?” Keith asks.

“Shel Silverstein?” Lance supplies.

“Yeah, him. He wrote a poem, ‘where the sidewalk ends.’ This place always reminded me of that for some reason. Over here nothing seems real. Like time works  differently or something? I’m not sure.”

Lance nods in agreement. “There’s this place in Vancouver, by the docks. They have a midnight festival there with a bunch of food trucks. It’s like that there.” 

The two stare at the water for a while. It looks like somebody had painted the sky onto it.

After a while, Lance takes out his phone and realises that it’s almost 2 in the morning. “Can I get your phone number?” Lance asks.

Keith nods and takes Lance’s phone, adding his number in a new contact. “Text me to make sure it’s right,” he says.

Lance complies and sure enough, there’s a sound from Keith’s bag. The two smile and Keith offers to walk Lance home. Lance agrees and the two walk back down the street to Lance’s house. 

“We should do this again,” Lance says once they’re on the doorstep.

Keith nods, “When are you heading back?”

“Monday morning.”

“That’s pretty soon. Oh well. Text me, ok?”

Lance nods and watches as Keith walks off.

***

The following morning Lance wakes up with a bit of a headache. He groans as he remembers that he didn’t drink any water last night and rolls over to check the time. It’s only 7 but Lance gets up, despite going to bed well past midnight. He puts on a bath robe and heads downstairs.

His entire family is already there. The noise makes Lance’s head hurt even more so he goes to the kitchen to grab a drink of water. There he spots his mum who wraps him in a bone-crushing hug.

“Lance, what time did you get home last night? I  was worried .”

“Like 2 or something,” Lance tells his mum who makes a tutting noise.

“Did you have fun with Hunk?” She asks.

“I actually didn’t hang out with him, he had to take his girlfriend’s shift. I walked around with Keith.”

“Keith?”

“Yeah, we went to high school together.”

His mum nods while Lance grabs a glass and fills it with water. She stares at him for a minute before asking him if he’s hung over.

“I had a beer, I don’t think you can get hungover from that.”

“You need to stop drinking. It’s a sign.”

Lance rolls his eyes as his brother, Millard, walks into the kitchen. “I don’t think Lance needs to stop drinking mum,” he says “He’s  just a lightweight.”

Lance is about to reply that he wasn’t hungover,  just had a headache, when the stove timer goes off and his mum opens the oven . She takes out a tin of muffins and puts them all on plates then instructs her two sons to hand them out.

The family  is seated at the table.  Lance takes his seat when the muffins are all handed out and starts talking to his sister about the night before . After a few minutes, Millard taps his fork on a cup of coffee, as if he’s making a toast at a wedding. Everyone falls silent and he turns to his wife, Irja. She gives him a reassuring smile and they look at the rest of the family.

“So, since everyone is here I wanted to announce that Irja and I are having a baby!” Millard announces. Irja is about to say something but  is cut off by the cheers that come from the rest of the group. 

As Lance cheers along with them, he feels like  maybe he was wrong for feeling out of place with his family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry if this is poorly written. I didn't think I would be able to update this week since I was so busy but now I'm sick so I have lots of time to spare. I wrote this all in one go and you can probably tell. Sorry about that, I'll try to space out my writing more next week.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Easter chaos and drunk kissing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's some drinking and talk about injury in this chapter so if any of those things affect you negatively please watch out!  
> Also, just to let you know, this is kinda a filler chapter. Not many important things happen.

It was pretty much a unanimous decision to celebrate Easter a day in advance.  This was because neither Millard nor Ciro got Easter Monday off and their family’s celebrations usually involved a good deal of wine .  This means that Lance has exactly two minutes after he finishes breakfast before he’s rushed off to help set up the Easter egg hunt .

Finley, Lance, and Irja  are brought upstaris and Celeste gives them each some chocolates to hide .  She then runs downstairs to distract her kids and Lance wonders why they didn’t hide the eggs before Eric and Dalia were awake . Wanting to get the whole ordeal over with Lance puts the chocolates almost in plain sight. Finley catches him soon enough and gives Lance a good scolding. 

“If you’re going to do this, Lance, you need to do it right,” She states, picking up an egg that he left in front of the TV.

“I don’t understand why we have to do this,” Lance groans “We never celebrated Easter when we were kids.”

“That’s because grandma Ramona was here and she thought the whole thing was weird and frivolous.”

“She was right!” Lance exclaims, ready to get into a full blown argument.  Thankfully enough Irja steps in.

“It’s weird, don’t you think?” Lance’s sister in law says “There are so many different ways to celebrate the same tradition! When my mum came here from Finland she was sad because there weren’t any Easter Witches. She even left candy by the door for them and was so disappointed when nobody took any. I know Easter is very important for Celeste and she wants to raise her children with it. The least we can do is help her carry on her traditions.”

Lance wants to argue, but he catches Finley giving him a dirty look and he decides to keep his mouth shut. He picks up the egg and places it behind a picture frame, earning satisfied smiles from everyone. 

Soon enough the eggs are all hidden and Celeste lets her kids out of the kitchen to look for them. Happy that the whole thing is over, Lance is about to go back up to his room when he hears a shriek from outside. He runs towards to noise, worried that somebody  is hurt . Soon enough he sees flames rising from the backyard and Lance sprints towards them.

He’s halfway out the door when Lance realises that it’s not a good idea to rush at flames with nothing to put them out so he backtracks and grabs the fire extinguisher in the kitchen . Once he’s  properly armed, Lance runs back outside and down the hill where he sees his mum and his grandma. Now even more worried than before, Lance  practically tumbles down the hill. Once he's in range he pulls the lever which triggers the device and coats the flames in a white, foamy substance. 

“Would anyone like to tell me what the fuck is going on here?” Lance gasps once the fire  is dealt with. 

“Language Lance!” Nohemi warns, to which Lance rolls his eyes. “Grandma Liv thought it would be a great idea to set a fire.”

Lance then turns to his grandma, “Why did you do this?”

“It’s an old tradition!” Grandma Liv exclaims.

“How could this  possibly be an old tradition, Gram?” Lance demands.

“It’s what they do back in Scotland. This family needs to go back to its roots! We should also go to church.”

Lance lets out a long sigh, “‘This family’ has not been in Scotland for the better part of a century, Gram!”

“In Cuba, we don’t celebrate Easter,” Lance’s mum reminds them. “We could have avoided this whole thing like we’ve been doing for the past 30 years!”

Liv scrunches up her nose “Well since that’s not what we’re doing this time around I figured it’d be nice to get some McClain traditions back on track !”

“The McClain tradition of arson?” Nohemi demands and Lance realises he needs to put a stop to this before things get out of hand.

“How about we compromise? Grandma, if you don’t light any fires today me and my buddy Hunk will take you to church tomorrow. Mum, if you don’t, I don’t know… kill anyone… I’ll get Hunk to make dinner tonight. Ok?”

The two women stare each other down for a few seconds before turning to Lance at the same time. They glare at him for a second before nodding  curtly . 

“I guess that will do,” Nohemi says before turning away and walking back up the hill. Lance is about to do the same when he feels is grandmother’s hand on his shoulder.

Lance spins around to see what she wants and sees a concerned look on Liv’s face.

“Are you doing ok my boy?” She asks.

Lance nods, “Yeah, I’m fine. Why?”

“Your energy is all… confused.”

“Jet lag?” Lance suggests, but Liv shakes her head.

“That would have faded by now. Do you want to talk about it?”

“I would if I knew what to talk about.”

“The world. Your life. How things are going.”

Lance thinks for a moment before saying, “Are you trying to connect with me?”

His grandma chuckles. “ Perhaps ,” she admits “But I am worried. Let me grab some leftover muffins and we can talk.”

Lance relents and lets Liv walk up the hill to grab food.  Once she’s gone he stands by the chicken coop remembering the tea parties he, Liv, and grandma Ramona used to have when he was younger .  It gave the two ladies time to connect and Lance a chance to feel like a grownup for once so it worked for everyone involved .  Then Lance started feeling like a grownup all the time and Ramona started forgetting their names so the tea parties ended .

Grandma Liv comes back with muffins and milk after a few minutes and they take a seat on the grass by the chicken coop.  They sit in silence, wondering what to talk about until Lance takes a sip of milk and remembers the conversation he had last night (“Bee stings and soy . Which sucks because cow’s milk gives me cramps.”)

“I ran into this guy I went to school with last night,” Lance says after a while.

“Oh? Who was it?”

“Keith Kogane. I hated him in high school but he seems ok now.”

“That’s ok. What’s he like?”

“Kinda bad-ass, actually. We broke into the train tracks and collected beer cans to exchange at the store.”

His grandma frowns, “That’s not bad-ass. Even I do that.”

“ Seriously ?” Lance says with a laugh.

“Yeah, it’s a great way to make spending money. This pension isn’t the best,” Liv replies.

The two fall silent again. Both Lance and his grandma finish their food then Liv turns to Lance and asks, “Do you like him?”

Lance blushes. “I don’t know. I mean, I hated him when I was younger but we kissed at the end of senior year. And, like, he’s kinda hot. He can pull off a mullet somehow and he has these amazing purple eyes. He’s a mechanic and believes in aliens and doesn’t drink milk of any kind. Also, he has a million and one things in his bag.”

Lance is going to go on but he sees his grandma staring at him with an exasperated expression on her face. “ I was wondering if you think he’s a decent person, not if you were in love with him. Come on Lance, not everything has to be gay.”

If it had been anyone else who said that Lance would take offence but Grandma Liv it was different. She was the person Lance had the most trouble coming out to due to her age and religious values. It turned out his fears  were unfounded though because when he told Liv that he was bi her first response was “Oh, me too.”

“Anyways,” Liv continues “It sounds like your head-over-heels for him. When’s the wedding?”

“Never.” Lance says. “I’m only in town for two more days and what with Easter and trying to see all my other friends there won’t be enough time. Plus, I don’t think he likes me. He told me he did in high school but I’m a very different person now.”

His grandma shrugs, “You can always stay longer and spend that time trying to get him to like you.”

“No, no,” Lance says, shaking his head “There’s no point. I’d much rather spend the little time I have here with my family.”

There’s silence for a minute before Liv talks again. “Do you want to know my favourite myth?” She asks.

Lance nods and his Grandma continues. “So when Zeus was creating humanity every human had four arms, four legs, and two heads. These original humans were very strong, strong enough to overthrow the gods. Of course, the gods didn’t like this so they needed a way to get rid of the competition.  The only problem was, the gods liked the people worshiping them and giving them offerings so they didn’t want to kill them . Instead, Zeus decided to split every person in half, thus decreasing their power.  Humans would feel incomplete until they found the other part of their body so they’d spend their whole lives looking for them . Only once the two halves  were reunited would the people feel at peace.”

There’s another moment of silence which Lance breaks by asking why she told him that story. 

“I thought it was relevant,” Lance’s grandma says with a shrug.

“Do you think Keith and I are soul mates? Gram, you’ve never even met him.”

Liv doesn’t say anything,  just shrugs again. They’re quite for a few more minutes until Lance asks, “Is Grandpa Al your other half?”

“No, I don’t think so,” Grandma Liv responds. “I married him because he had a stable job and a missing hand so he wouldn’t get conscripted. I love him, yes, but he’s not my soul mate. Your mum’s parents, they’re a good example. Ever since Ramona got sent off to that nursing home Diego’s seemed lost. You know sometimes they call each other and don’t say anything? They listen to each other breathing. Racks up one hell of a phone bill but  I think it’s nice.”

Lance smiles at that and wonders if he can imagine doing that with anyone. He decides that’s not his style, Lance is more likely to  physically move himself to be with the person he loves. Or make them move. Either or.

“Grandma Ramona gave me presents to give to everyone by the way,” Lance says after a while.

“Oh? What kind of presents?”

“Knitted things.”

“Lovely! She’s always been so good at knitting. I never got the hang of it myself.”

Lance forces a smile, “Er, yeah. She’s gotten quite a bit worse. She made me a scarf the size of my hand.”

Liv’s smile fades and Lance feels more than a bit bad about relaying this information to her. She and Ramona had always been close. Liv changes the subject by saying, “So that Celeste, she’s a bit of a bitch, eh?”

Lance laughs a bit at his grandma’s language. “I wouldn’t say that, per say, but I don’t like her.”

“She’s so passive aggressive,” Grandma Liv continues “When ever things don’t go her way she lets out this big sigh as if you’ve hurt her on a deep emotional level . And she’s so overprotective! I understand where she’s coming from, I’ve been there, but she won’t let her kids out of sight. How are they going to get their childish shenanigans over with? It’ll bite her back when they’re teenagers, I swear.”

“Irja’s lovely though,” Lance says, hoping to add some positivity to the conversation. Unfortunately, his grandma shakes her head.

“She’s lovely, but Millard treats her like shit. I don’t know what to think of the boy any longer. He doesn’t talk to me anymore and he only talks to your mum when he needs something.”

“ Maybe she should marry Ciro and Millard should marry Celeste,” Lance jokes.

“That may work,” says Liv “But think of the poor children. They’d have the worst parents ever.”

Lance laughs despite himself but  is cut off by a change in mood. Grandma Liv is no longer looking at her grandson, she’s now peering out at the river with a worried look on her face.

“There’s a storm coming,” Liv says . Lance looks up at the sky. The sun is shining  just like yesterday.

Lance sighs and gets up, offering Liv his hand. “I need to call Hunk to see if he’ll come to dinner tonight. Then church tomorrow.”

His grandma nods, snapping out of her mood  quickly . “Of course. You’re lucky to have friends like him.”

“I know,” Lance says as he walks up the hill and goes inside.

***

_ The music is too loud and there are too many people. Lance is 18 and  just finished high school. He’s going to move to BC in a week and decided to go to Bethany Wigmar’s graduation party to see everyone one last time. _

__

_ Lance is beginning to think that he made a mistake. The graduation ceremonies have made Lance forget that he only has one friend. He’s reminded of this now. Everywhere people are talking to each other or making out and Lance is alone.  _

__

_ He gets himself a drink (it tastes terrible but Lance doesn’t care) and gravitates towards the wall where there are fewer people .  This isn’t  normally something that Lance does, but then again he’s usually with Hunk who makes him feel safe for some reason . Lance pulls his jacket closer to his body and tries to disappear.  _

__

_ Lance is starting to look for a pathway to the door when he feels someone tap his shoulder. He whips around, surprised that anyone would want to talk to him, and sees Keith. He looks pretty much the same as he did the last time Lance saw him, but his hair is a little bit longer and he has a tan.  _

__

_ Lance tries to say something smooth, but he’s so surprised to see Keith there that he ends up saying “What are you doing here ?” _

__

_ Keith looks a bit taken aback and frowns. Lance mentally slaps himself and says, “Sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. I’m surprised you’re here, that’s all. Haven’t seen you in a while.” _

__

_ “I’m surprised I’m here as well,” Keith admits “I heard it was happening and thought it might be nice to see everybody but I haven’t been to school in a year and I guess nobody knows who I am anymore .” _

__

_ Lance laughs a bit. “Yeah, I know how you feel. I wanted to say good bye to my friends but after 5 minutes I realised that my only friend is Hunk. And he’s not here.” _

__

_ Keith nods and the two stand next to each other  awkwardly . Lance wants to ask why Keith decided to talk to him, of all people but decides not too. It would make the situation worse than it already is.  _

__

_ “Um, do you want me to get you a drink?” Keith asks, noticing that Lance’s cup is empty. _

__

_ “Trying to get me drunk?” Lance jokes, but it seems to go over Keith’s head because he frowns and quirks his eyebrows  quizzically . Lance tells him to forget about it and hands Keith his cup. _

__

_ After a few minutes, Keith comes back with two full cups and a bottle of beer. He looks around before handing Lance one of the cups.  A few more seconds pass then Keith bites his lip  nervously and asks if Lance wants to go upstairs where there are fewer people . Lance isn’t quite sure what to say to that but knows that it’ll be quieter upstairs and he won’t have to shout to  be heard . He thinks for a minute then agrees and follows Keith up the staircase.  _

__

_ Once they’re up there Keith and Lance find and empty room and sit on the floor by the bed. Lance plays with his cup and realises that he’s  probably said more to Keith tonight then he has his entire life. It’s weird.  _

__

_ “So, what have you been up to?” Lance asks after several minutes of awkward silence.  _

__

_ “Oh, you know,” Keith answers “Working. Reading. Trying to find the meaning of life.” _

__

_ “Have you found it yet?” Lance asks, not quite sure if Keith is joking or not. _

__

_ “No. I don’t think there is one. I’ve been reading a lot of philosophy books… I don’t know.” _

__

_ “So, I’ve been in school having an existential crisis because I don’t know what to do with my life, and you’ve been having an existential crisis on purpose .” _

__

_ “Pretty much,” Keith says after thinking for a bit. This makes Lance laugh for some reason and Keith smiles. Lance finishes his drink and pours himself another one. _

__

_ The two spend the rest of the night talking. At first, it’s about their lives, but since neither of them have much going on that topic gets exhausted  quickly .  Then they talk more about philosophy, but this is pretty much a one-sided conversation since Lance isn't that interested in it . Once they tire of that it’s movies, then books, then music. Soon enough they finish their bottle of beer and Keith goes to get another one. _

__

_ “Promise you’ll come back?” Lance says when Keith is by the door. Keith nods and leaves. It takes him a few minutes, but he comes back like promised and pours them each a drink. _

__

_ By now Lance is  properly buzzed and Keith is looking  utterly amazing with his hair framing his face like that .  Lance starts giggling  uncontrollably at the thought of Keith’s hair which makes the other boy turn around and look at him . _

__

_ “Why are you laughing?” Keith asks. _

__

_ “You have a mullet!” Lance exclaims, still giggling. “You have a mullet and it’s stupid but it looks good on you!” _

__

_ Now Lance breaks into a full-fledged laugh and hunches over, trying to control them. “I’ve also had a crush on you for like, three years! And now look, we’re in a bedroom at a party which is the most cliche thing ever and your hair is ridiculous but also nice!” _

__

_ Lance can’t stop laughing and Keith is moving close to him for some reason. This gives Lance a good view of his face, and a better view of his hair, and he starts laughing harder. Then,  suddenly , Lance stops laughing because Keith's lips are on his. They’re warm and tentative like Keith isn’t sure that they should be there.  _

__

_ Keith pulls away after a few seconds and Lance sighs from the loss of contact. Deciding that kissing Keith was a good experience, Lance leans in for another one. The second kiss is deeper and longer. Lance runs his fingers through Keith’s hair and forgets to breathe. After a while, they pull apart and Lance gasps for breath, earning a giggle from Keith.  _

__

_ “So,” Lance says. _

__

_ “So,” Keith replies, smiling.  _

__

_ Their faces are close to each other and Lance can feel Keith’s breath on his face. They’re about to kiss again when Lance’s phone goes off. He looks at the caller ID and sees that it’s his mum so he apologises to Keith and picks it up. _

__

_ “Lance! Where are you?” His mum says as soon as Lance answers her call. _

__

_ “I told you, I’m at a party.” _

__

_ “You need to come back right now!” _

__

_ Lance groans “Why? I told you I’d be out late.” _

__

_ “Grandma Ramona had a heart attack. We called the ambulance but they might be a while.” _

__

_ “Shit,” says Lance “Is she ok? Is she awake? Did you make sure she’s breathing? Did someone give her CPR?” _

__

_“Yes, yes, don’t worry,” Nohemi reassures, “Finley resuscitated her. She's just really scared now, she doesn’t know what’s going on.”_

__

_ Lance sighs in relief. “I’ll be there in a few minutes, ok?” _

__

_ His mum acknowledges this and hangs up. Lance turns to Keith’s who looks worried. _

__

_ “I’m sorry man,” Lance apologises “There’s a family emergency. I need to get home.” _

__

_ Keith nods in understanding. “Don’t worry about it,” he says, “Er, can I have your phone number before you go?” _

__

_ “Yeah, yeah, of course,” Lance says. Keith pulls out a pen and some paper from his bag and gives it to Lance who scrawls down his number. When he’s done he gives Keith a quick kiss and darts out the door to get back to his family.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I'm sorry this update was so late, I've had a busy week. I'll try to update earlier next week. Also if you want me to add a list of Lance's family member's names please let me know. It'll take like, two seconds.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this!  
> Comments and suggestions are always welcome and wanted.
> 
> Also, a note on culture: A lot of the interactions that take place within Lance's family are based on things that have happened with mine. I'm trying not to add too many cultural references since my family isn't from Cuba and I don't feel like the culture is mine to write about, however, I mentioned his race to keep with the canon and to make the story a bit more specific. Again, culture is barely going to be a thing in this story but if you see anything that doesn't make sense culturally please, please, please let me know. Thank you so much.
> 
> I will try to update weekly-ish (on Sundays)
> 
> If you want to talk to me on tumblr that would be actually pretty amazing!!! My URL is https://captain-iamallama1-7-130-25.tumblr.com


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